No 74 Sticky Bombs

[Big Dave]

Having allways thought the No74 was not used after 1943 by the Army ,i was surprised when reading an account of the Normandy fighting[The Devils Own Luck by Dennis Edwards ,p95]that his CSM was killed when a German shell landed near his trench and detonated his sticky bombs,standing orders been that they were to be kept in every trench in case of tank attack although most of the men kept them in a seperate trenchs within arms reach,this was at Chateau St Come 19 th June 1944. Having read plenty of accounts of British soldier in action theres plenty of mention of No36 and even No77 and 80s but only a few of 74s , does anyone know of any more accounts of sticky bombs been used after 1943 ? Dave

 

[Fragman]

Hi Dave, Cant help with your timeline, but thought Id add a pretty cool photo of some Kiwi soldiers inspecting a sticky bomb in North Africa (give me an excuse to remind everyone that Im still looking for a set of covers for mine too :tinysmile_fatgrin_t). Cheers
Colin

 

[Madbomber31]

I know of a find of 3 boxes of 5 No 74 and some outher stuff in a paratrooper backpack near Arnhem in 1989. So they had them with them in September 1944.

 

[Big Dave]

No74 Sticky Bombs

Thanks for the replies ,never heard of them been found at Arnhem but would tie in with the Normandy account which concerned Ox and Bucks glider infantry ,were they issued to only airborne troops that late on ?Bloody brave men to use them even in training never mind with the Germans firing at them . .Colin my 74 is also missing the covers so when you find a box full let me know and i will have a pair regards Dave